You Could Have It So Much Better... With Franz Ferdinand

Domino; 2005

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You've probably clicked over here to see if the boys in this band could be suffering from any form of second-album slouching. Here's the thing, though: I'm not convinced these boys make albums. Not like that, and not in those terms. Sometimes, when we call an act a "singles band," we mean something cruel and obvious-- that their album tracks just aren't very good. But with Franz Ferdinand, we mean something kinder: that their whole project, their whole system of stylish poses and cocksure guitar stomps, just happens to work better in discrete, surprising, three-minute blasts. It's damned generous of them, really. And like Duran Duran-- the band whose sound these guys spent parts of their first album hybridizing with some vintage Josef K and Monochrome Set post-punk stuff-- chances are they'll continue making solid LPs from which we mostly just cherish and remember the hits.

That's the report from You Could Have It So Much Better, which does a lot to lock in that M.O. As it turns out, Franz Ferdinand, like many an effective singles band, are immensely more lovable when they're on top of the world. Casual, insouciant greatness is kind of their thing, and these cocky kids seem to have known it from Day One-- just consider "Take Me Out", where they spend half a minute pretending to sound like the Strokes before pulping their way down into something much better. And then consider "Do You Want To", the lead single from this album. Give these guys the Mercury Prize, and do they sit down fretting about making some kind of serious statement? No, they come back with a big ridiculous stomper, a song whose hooks get so happily ballroom-glam you'd almost think they stole them from the Sweet or the Bay City Rollers-- the kind of song most bands wouldn't be able to pull off without telegraphing a whole lot of irony and embarrassment.

Couple that with a video in which they dress up in matching outfits, pull faces, and goof, A Hard Day's Night-style, through a gallery full of modern art touchstones, and there's your treat: These guys are evidently having a ball, and they sound good doing it. And they go on sounding like that across the length of this album: gleefully unselfconscious, increasingly glammy and trad-rock, and almost disturbingly amped-up, to the point where most of these songs feel like they're spewing confetti all over themselves, whether you feel like helping or not. Some stretches are packed with so many hooks and effortless swings and shifts and yowls that you might start to ignore them entirely.

People will probably tell you that makes this less of a good album-- a record full of energetic twists and flourishes that don't quite make up for a lack of real, memorable songs. They'll tell you that the interesting things here are the boys' new attempts at bringing down the tempo-- tracks like "Walk Away", "Eleanor Put Your Boots on", and "Fade Together", where the band cribs jaunty moves from Revolver, Paul McCartney, and the Turtles.

The trick is to cede the idea that Franz Ferdinand are meant to deliver the cohesive, moving, traditional Statement Albums their debut may have misled listeners to expect. Some people-- earnest people, like Bloc Party, Sufjan Stevens, and the Arcade Fire-- will go on trying to fill that niche. Franz Ferdinand, though, aren't going to do that, and good on them: We can only hope they'll go on offering us cheeky, energetic surprises. Someday, maybe, they'll score a single as perfect as Pulp's "Common People", or pop up with a discoid treat as frothy as Blur's "Girls and Boys", but don't count on these guys to keep you supplied with serious close-to-the-heart-on-your-sleeve indie touchstones. Judging by You Could Have It So Much Better, these style-conscious art kids are content to be a fine, entertaining pop band instead.